Smith Howell – A Master of Dreams
In the 1960’s the congregation was not called Goodman Oaks, and it was not located in Southaven, Mississippi. The membership met in the southern part of Memphis, several miles north of its present location. At the time many in its membership were comfortable with the way things were going, but there was one man who was not, and that person was Smith Howell one of the elders. He was looking south toward a country road with little traffic, and almost no community. It was a place surrounded by empty fields. He kept telling the membership, “We’ve got to buy land there. That is where the growth will be in the next 25 years.” It is remembered that Smith just would not stop until he persuaded them to buy the land. They did and today that location is located on most heavily traveled road in the Memphis metroplex, and Goodman Oaks has become the largest church of Christ in the state of Mississippi. Although he is in his 90’s Smith has continued to look into the future in a way that few people can see. In recent years some have had him drive them to a location several miles south of the current Goodman Oaks location to a small country crossroads and say, “We need to buy land here. Twenty-five years from now the growth will be in this area.” He has been a driving force in the fiber of the congregation for over 50 years.
Smith Howell not only sees need that others miss in the United States; he also has made his mark in Africa. “When Smith was in his 60’s, and when most people were well into retirement, he decided it was time to travel to central Africa and look in on a mission point the congregation was supporting,” reports Dick Stephens of the Malawi Project. “We have seen first hand what he helped accomplish in the northern part of the country. He helped design an entire college complex, he then returned to the states and raised a large portion of the funds to build it.
“Next he turned his attention to central Malawi where we were working, reports Suzi Stephens, Medical Director for the Malawi Project. “Although he was in his 80’s, he had already been instrumental in raising funds to assist us in our travel and work expenses. That was not enough and on one trip I watched him walk the hospital property and silently contemplate thoughts others could not see. On his return to the states his love for people compelled him to first draw up the design for a second medical building on the property, he then helped to raise most of the funding to complete it. Next he drew the plans for a group of homes that could hold over 200 orphans, and on a subsequent trip he saw his dream in reality as children surrounded the white headed man from America. Every trip he made he saw more things that needed to be done to help the suffering in this poor, third world nation.”
Smith made his final trip to Malawi at the age of 90. After suffering a heart attack only three months earlier Smith refused to cancel the trip. He was determined to go there at least one more time. While there he experienced some leg discomfort, and with his recent health problems, doctors determined to immediately get him to South Africa for evaluation, then on to Mississippi. Smith protested the action. He had no fear of death, and his love for Malawi was so strong he said that to die there was as easy as anywhere else. In fact, he had told others he would welcome it in a place he loved so much. The problem did not prove to be serious but it ended his trips to Africa.
Recently Smith decided it was time to retire from the eldership of the congregation. “Retirement means something different to Smith than it does to the rest of us,” reports Art Braden, the deacon over missions at Goodman Oaks. “After services on Sunday morning you will find Smith standing near the main door of the church building watching over a specially prepared communion table to make sure all of the communion packs have been picked up. You see, Smith now has a new project. He is making sure those who cannot come to services have a home visit that day, and someone is taking communion to them. When he is sure all of the packages have been picked up by the church members he goes to lunch with some of his family and church friends, then he and another church member Jerry Richardson head out to take communion to those who are the farthest away from the church building. He is quick to warn us that we are not doing enough for those who are confined to home or in the hospitals.”
Stephens sums it up this way, “In many ways Smith is our conscience, in both Malawi and in America, walking in and out of our lives pointing out clearly what our mission is to widows, orphans, the elderly and those who are suffering with difficulties in life. His white wavy hair and his soft voice call on all of us to commit more of ourselves our lives to serving the Master.”